Coping Mechanisms
by The Cheshire Cheese
Summary: Chakotay and Neelix weren't the only ones experimented on in "Scientific Method." Sam Wildman struggles to console her frightened daughter, as Naomi undergoes strange transformations. Meanwhile, a security guard and a young botanist decide to make the most of their bizarre situation, and try a little "experiment" of their own.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is set during the Season 4 episode "Scientific Method." **

**Just as a reminder, this episode is **_**early**_** Season 4. At this point, Tom and B'Elanna have just begun dating; Seven of Nine has not yet formed her friendships with the Doctor or Naomi; and no contact has been made with the Alpha Quadrant. This is also many episodes **_**before**_** "Mortal Coil," in which Naomi appears barely out of her toddler years. They hadn't even taken on Scarlett Polmers to play her yet. (I forget the name of the little girl who played her in "Mortal Coil.") So, basically, this takes place during an awkward time period that doesn't seem to get a lot of focus in fan-fiction. **

**WARNING: Sexual content. It isn't graphic, and you won't even "see" anything, but it will be…weird. Maybe too weird for some readers. If you find this story too far-fetched to accept into your head-canon, I understand. **

**I don't own "Star Trek: Voyager," for which many people are probably grateful.**

* * *

Samantha Wildman amazed herself every day, with how well she was able to carry on parenting a child on Voyager. She imagined the situation would have been strenuous enough had she only herself to look after. But raising a _child_ aboard this ship…Sam had lost count of the number of times she'd been truly terrified for her daughter's life. She'd lost a baby once. The fear of losing her daughter again would probably have been with her forever, even if they had been living a safe, normal life back home.

So far, Naomi hadn't suffered any serious trauma. But it was clear that growing up on Voyager was having an effect on her development. Her recurring fear of "monsters in the replicator" wasn't a simple result of a child's imagination; it originated from the "macrocosm" incident, when giant germs attacked the crew. Three of them had soared out of the Wildman replicator, before rendering Sam and her daughter unconscious. Luckily, that was the only time Naomi had ever been faced with Voyager's "monsters" up close. But it was clear the girl could sometimes sense the danger when the ship was battling the Borg or hostile aliens.

Just a little over a month into their fourth year in the Delta Quadrant, Sam already felt that this year was the most difficult. For starters, Voyager was now officially in Borg space. Granted, they were ten years out of the heart of it; but the threat of running into the Collective was still looming. And Kes was gone. She'd been one of the people Sam had confided in the most. The threat of Species 8472 was another source of stress. And then there was Voyager's newest crewmember, Seven of Nine. Sam, like most of the crew, wasn't decided on her feelings towards Seven yet. The former drone could wind up fitting right into the crew, as yet another misfit just in need of understanding; or this might turn out like "Lord of the Rings," with the parts of Frodo and Gollum being played by Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine. Until Sam was confident that the former was the case, she didn't want Naomi spending too much time with Seven.

Now that Naomi was walking and talking, there was the issue of how to school her. Sam was starting her off with homeschooling, but the Doctor, Neelix and a few others were volunteering to tutor the child in various subjects. Being a Xenobiologist, Sam figured she was as qualified as any to educate Naomi on the various species she'd be growing up with on Voyager, and dealing with in the Delta Quadrant. Not surprisingly, Naomi had a special interest in the Ktarians, her father's species. There were no Ktarians onboard besides Naomi. Sam's husband Greskrendtregk was on Deep Space Nine, or had been three years ago when Voyager departed. He didn't even know he had a daughter; Ktarian physiology made pregnancies extremely difficult to monitor, even in the 24th century. (Sam still remembered how she'd spent her pregnancy thinking Naomi would be a boy.)

Naomi kicked her heels against the edge of the sofa, clicking through images of Ktarians on a PADD. She appeared five or six in human years, ready for kindergarten. But her mother was painfully aware that she was little over two years old.

"Daddy!" Naomi said happily, bringing up the image of her father.

Sam leaned over the back of the sofa to share Naomi's view of the picture. In the photo, Greskrendtregk stood in front of his tailor shop on DS9. At first glance, the only trait Naomi had inherited from him was the row of four horns running down the middle of his forehead. She hadn't received his yellow Ktarian eyes, or the layered eye-sockets that came with them. But she did get the rapid aging of a Ktarian, and the near-photographic memory that came with any fast-developing species. And maybe it was Sam's imagination, but she was sure Naomi was displaying the mischievous, often "nosy" personality that she'd loved so much in Greskrendtregk.

"Daddy's waiting for us on Deep Space Nine?" Naomi asked, for probably the twentieth time.

"That's right," Sam replied, knowing that she couldn't really know.

She tried not to think about how dangerous DS9 could get. It was a political hotbed. For all Sam knew, they were in the middle of a war zone right now. Her husband might be in more danger there than she and Naomi were on Voyager.

Naomi flipped to the next picture. This one displayed Etana Jol, a crooked Ktarian leader famous for trying to conquer Captain Picard's ship with mind control. Etala Jol looked little like Naomi's father, despite being the same species. Jol's forehead lacked horns, instead sporting two rounded hemispheres over a small formation on the bridge of her nose.

"Her head looks like a butt!" Naomi giggled.

"Naomi," Sam scolded, "That's not a nice thing to say." It was purely the parent in her speaking. Sam privately agreed with her daughter's observation, and silently added that the formation between Etana Jol's "butt cheeks" was even _more_ unfortunate looking. Wanting to get the unattractive face away as soon as possible, Sam reached over and flipped the PADD to the next image. "Ktarian foreheads vary even more than Klingon ones," she explained to her daughter.

"I _know_," Naomi rolled her eyes upward with exasperation. "You told me that two days ago!"

It was so easy to forget that even this young, Naomi's memory wasn't human.

They flipped through the various images of famous Ktarians, and relatives from Greskrendtregk's side of the family. As Sam had said, Ktarian foreheads came in a great variety, to the point where one might not realize all these individuals belonged to the same species. One Dr. Adon had three dome-like growths on his forehead, the largest in the center; a known politician from a century ago had a formation like a shank-bone sprouting up from between his eyes, with a single horn in the center; Naomi's Aunt Orlana had a segmented crest, almost resembling a spine, running from her forehead to her nose.

"They all look so different," Naomi observed, almost with admiration.

"I know." Sam folded her arms on the back of the sofa. "Listen Naomi, I have work tonight. Two of my friends are coming over to watch you."

"Not Neelix?"

"Neelix will stop by, but he's got duties in the kitchen. It'll be Lt. Baxter. You've met him."

"Lt. Walter Baxter," Naomi recited, with enthusiastic recollection. "The security guard!"

"My god Naomi, you only met him once!"

"So? He told me his name."

"Well he's going to be coming over with one of my work friends, Ensign Blackhorse."

Naomi glanced at her Ktarian rocking horse, and pointed. "Is she a horse like Tali?"

Sam couldn't tell if her daughter was joking or not. At this age it was hard to tell. Sam sighed, and left the sofa to get some coffee from the replicator. "No Naomi, she's not a horse. It's just a name. She's a human, like me and Lt. Baxter."

"Does she like horses?"

"I don't know. You can ask her."

"Is she a Xenobiologist like you?"

"Not quite." Sam said. "She's a botanist. She studies plants. But she's from my department. Neelix runs a lot of his vegetables and fruits past her, to make sure they're safe to eat. Kes used to rely on her data sometimes for the airponics bay."

Naomi had stopped listening, and returned to flipping through the pictures in her PADD. Sam realized her coffee was waiting for her, and retrieved it from the replicator. Sipping slowly, Sam watched Naomi and wondered, uncomfortably, what other images her daughter would wind up seeing with those beautiful hazel eyes, as she grew up on Voyager.

* * *

Sometimes it annoyed Ensign Annalie Blackhorse, that so many of Voyager's crew knew her only as one of the other Native Americans onboard besides Commander Chakotay, or as one of the dark-eyed crewmembers who "might be a Betazoid." But other times, like today, she welcomed those reputations as a shield, hoping they would deter people from ever wondering about her personal life.

Her personal life had become very complicated out here in the Delta Quadrant, and frankly embarrassing.

Starfleet wanted outsiders to think that everyone from Earth was like Ensign Kim, all wholesome and pure. The fact was that, utopia government or not, humans were still humans, and they were prone to human weaknesses. Like loneliness, and romantic pickiness. And losing faith in finding a fast way home, and coping by falling into an on-and-off romantic relationship with a married security chief.

Mercifully, Ensign Annalie Blackhorse and Lt. Walter Baxter were "lower decks" officers, and on top of that, both very practical and cautious people. So it was likely that their relationship would never make ship-wide news, like that of Lieutenants Paris and Torres. Which reminded Annalie, her friend Ensign Kao Li Xiong owed her a week's worth of replicator rations.

"Hey, Big Sister."

_And speak of the devil_.

"Hey, Little Sister," Annalie looked up from her chicken wrap.

These were nicknames the two women had adopted in the first year aboard Voyager, jokingly referring to the way that so many of the non-human crewmembers had trouble telling them apart, or thought they were related. Their human comrades found this just as absurd as Annalie and Kao Li did, since the two were clearly from opposite sides of the planet. And even if one somehow couldn't see that, there was the fact that their accents were completely different; Kao Li always had a mild Hmong accent, while Annalie spoke with a feint Southern twang. But apparently for Bolians and Vulcans, all it took was two thin, petite human women with long dark hair and slanted eyes, and they were lost. To be fair, a lot of those crewmembers would likely be hearing Annalie and Kao Li speaking in their own planet's language, thanks to the Universal Translator, so the difference in their Asian and Southern accents might not be any help. And humans like Annalie probably couldn't tell various ethnic groups among Vulcans and Bolians apart.

In any case, even humans tended to get the birth order of the two "sisters" wrong. People generally assumed Annalie was the older one, since she was quiet and reserved, while Kao Li had an outspoken spunk almost comparable to B'Elanna Torres.' In truth, Annalie had stepped aboard Voyager at age twenty-two, while Kao Li was a year older.

"I just remembered," Annalie told her friend, "that you owe me replicators rations."

"For?" Kao Li sank into her seat with a tray of Neelix's Alferian hair pasta.

"Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres. Don't pretend you don't remember our bet. I called them back in Year One. _You_ thought Torres was gonna hook up with Carrey!"

"Or Vorik." Kao Li began sprinkling cheese on her hair-pasta. "I can't tell you how bad I wish you could've seen it when he 'proposed' to her!"

"So basically anyone B'Elanna punches, you think she'll end up with."

"Well Klingons do use aggression to show affection, don't they?"

"Don't ask me, I work with plants. Sam Wildman's the one who's all about living species. Speaking of which, I'm watching her kid tonight. Me and Walter."

Kao Li didn't say anything. Annalie knew her friend didn't approve of her adulterous relationship with the security officer.

"Annalie," Kao Li said quietly, "What are you gonna do if we find a shortcut home? Or if we find some way to communicate with Starfleet? Are you going to keep seeing him? Is he gonna tell his wife?"

"We've talked about it." Annalie looked away and sighed, scratching her neck. "Neither of us has much hope for Voyager getting home. If we do, I'm stepping away. Then what he tells her is up to him. But he doesn't think she'll wait for him either."

"You know, there _are_ two-hundred other guys onboard."

"And I've probably dated all of them," Annalie said bitterly. "I know it's my fault. I'm too picky. The problem is, Starfleet churns out too many 'nice boys' like Harry Kim and Billy Telfer. I need a sourpuss like me. I gave Mortimer Harren a try a few weeks ago. But he's so obsessed with his quantum-theories or whatever, I don't think he even has a sex drive. Except maybe for mathematical equations."

"So date a Maquis." Kao Li suggested.

"Did, remember? They were all headaches. The available ones anyway. I'm sure Ayala and Tabor are decent, so naturally they're taken. Kurt Bendera was a possibility, so of course he had to go and die on me. Gerron's a good guy, but he's too religious for me. Chell's just a complete man-child. Yosa seemed perfect, and then it turns out he's already got a boyfriend. _Don't_ get me started on Dalby, that man belongs in a straightjacket!"

"So you're just gonna play second-choice to a married man." Kao Li drubbed her fingers on the table. "Because he's 'close enough' to your type."

"Why not. Might as well make the most of what we can out here." Annalie took a swig of her orange juice.

"You have a weird way of coping."

"At least Walter and I can keep _our_ dysfunctional relationship private."

Kao Li shook her head, eyes wide. "You should _see_ Torres and Paris in Engineering. It's like they're in high school." After a moment, she added, "It's not just them either. _All_ of Engineering's slowly going nuts."

"I'll bet. First the Borg, and then—"

"No Big Sister, I'm not talking about stress. I mean _actually_ going crazy. Well not 'crazy' per se, but acting really strange. First there's Lt. Torres, snogging Paris everywhere in public. Then Joe's been getting weirdly forgetful." She meant Lt. Joseph Carrey. "He's usually got everything memorized, _especially_ the rule book. But now…I mean, today Vorik had to remind him where we kept the gel packs. And he forgot his com badge, had to go back to his quarters and get it. And _then_ there's Jor and Tabor. They're having the _opposite_ problem of B'Elanna and Tom."

Annalie could feel her brow furrowing. "They didn't break _up_…?"

"No, but they're having, shall we say, 'problems.' Marina's been complaining about her senses fading." Marina Jor was half Betazoid, and though not powerful enough to help Captain Janeway as the famous Deanna Troi had aided Picard, she could usually sense vague emotions from other people if in close proximity. "She's afraid she's somehow losing her empathy. I mean, her empathic abilities. And Tabor—well, to use his exact words, he 'can't get his warp core running at full power.'"

Annalie chewed her chicken wrap slowly. "Sounds like the warp core might be emitting some kind of radiation or something. The _literal_ warp core I mean."

"So nothing weird's been happening in the science department?"

"Nope." Annalie shrugged. "Granted, ours is a small department. But I haven't noticed anything unusual. Well, Walter's been whining more than usual, worrying about people's safety, but that's probably just stress. Having to deal our new shipmate stealing a shuttle and stomping past security."

She was referring to the recent incident where a Borg signal had affected Seven of Nine's mind.

Whispering, Kao Li asked, "Do you think she's going to betray us? Get us all assimilated? I hear Chakotay doesn't trust her."

"_Pfft_. Doubt it. If the Maquis could integrate, so can she. If you ask me, that was just the Delta Quadrant stealing that shuttlecraft. It seems like all the senior officers have to get possessed by an alien or have their brains fried by radiation once a year. I'm starting to think it's a Starfleet requirement."

"Seems like all the crazy crap happens to the senior officers." Kao Li observed.

"That's because they're the ones who go diving _into_ this crap, usually. That's part of being a senior officer. Anyway, our jobs are plenty interesting in their own right. I don't know about yours, but I sometimes feel like us in the Bio department could have our own holo-series, one of those science-mystery-solving dramas."

"Engineering would probably be a soap opera," Kao Li said, spinning her fork into her pasta.

* * *

Lt. Walter Baxter knew very little about children. He and his wife Olga had never wanted any. Now, he almost wished they had; maybe it would have made him more confident that Olga would stay faithful to him, even with him legally dead back home. Or given _him_ more incentive to stay faithful to _her_. He felt a bit of shame, a man in his mid-thirties with a receding hairline, cheating on his wife with a young woman fresh out of Starfleet Academy. But Annalie Blackhorse seemed years ahead of her age in maturity. Or maybe Walter was just years behind in his. He made his way to Sam Wildman's quarters, wondering how he'd ended up in this position, a lower-decks security chief, cheating on his wife with the young ship's botanist.

Walter hadn't even been a security officer when he was assigned to Voyager; his first uniform aboard this ship had been red. But due to half the crew dying in the Caretaker incident, and effort to integrate the Maquis, several people had had their jobs and uniforms switched around a few times before finally settling in a permanent position. With Walter's obsession with sports and working out, he had great reflexes and good aim, and was an obvious candidate for a backup security chief.

Why was he cheating on Olga? Because he could, and he should. He and his wife were both practical people, who'd never been big on sentiment. Their marriage proposal had taken place over lunch in a café on the Aldeberan Colony, discussing the benefits of getting married like discussing a business proposal. After three full years, Olga would accept her husband's legal death, morn properly, and move on. And if somehow Voyager made contact with the Alpha Quadrant, Walter knew she wouldn't blame him for doing the same. He tried to take solace in the fact that he wasn't the only one on Voyager being unfaithful to someone back home. Ensign Vorik had stated outright that he'd given up on his arranged fiancé, when he proposed to Lt. Torres. Rumors circulated about Sam Wildman and Joe Carrey, both of whom had spouses back on Earth (and Walter, being a friend of Sam, knew those rumors had merit). Even Harry Kim and Captain Janeway were supposed to have fiancés back home, and both had clearly broken those vows, as early as Voyager's first year out here.

When he reached the Wildman quarters, Annalie was already there. She'd brought a potted alien flower from Airponics, and was showing Naomi the designs on its petals.

"Ready to babysit, Wally?" Annalie asked.

"Eh," Walter grunted, collapsing into a chair with his PADD. "You can do the nurturing, I'll stand watch."

While Naomi examined the flower, Annalie asked off-handedly, "You think anyone else besides Sam's gonna start having children?"

Walter grunted again. "Doubt it. Too many people already have families back home. Distraction is one thing, but starting clean over is another." Well, this had gotten awkward fast. "Listen, I'm gonna work on my security report for Lt. Tuvok, alright?"

Annalie nodded, focusing (or pretending to focus) on Naomi and the flower.

They replicated a pizza for dinner, and Annalie started read Naomi some Earth folk tales from her PADD. When she started a Native American story, Walter cringed inwardly, fearing one of Commander Chakotay's parables; but luckily, this one was short, and Annalie's storytelling voice was a lot less annoying (in Baxter's opinion) than Chakotay's. As he finished his drink, Walter found his attention drifting to his reflection in his PADD. He'd gone several days without shaving once, and didn't have even a five-o'clock shadow to show for it. Was that normal? Did the growth rate of a man's beard fluctuate throughout his life? He made a note to ask the Doctor at his next checkup. It was really beginning to bother him.

Annalie finished her pizza and went to wash her hands at the sink, leaving the washroom door opened.

Naomi moved around on the couch to ask her, "Can Indians really turn into animals?"

Annalie's laughter echoed from the washroom. "If only. What I'd give if I couldn't morph into an eagle and take off whenever the Doctor was giving one of his opera performances."

Walter scolded his lover, "Annalie, she's like five. Well technically two, but you know what I mean! She doesn't know fantasy from reality. You have to clarify these things for her."

"What's wrong with letting a kid have a little imagination?" Annalie dried her hands, glancing at her reflection in the mirror.

Walter sighed, and turned to Naomi. "No, Indians can't turn into eagles or wolves."

Annalie leaned into the mirror, examining her reflection closely. "Well let's not rule anything out."

"_What_?" Walter spun in his chair to look at her.

Annalie grimaced at her reflection. "My fuzz is back! I _swear_, I must be turning into a werewolf. I usually only have to groom my upper lip once a week, but the last four mornings in a row I've had to vaporize my mustache, and by dinnertime it's back!"

"You do _not_ have a mustache." Walter left the couch to join his girlfriend at the mirror.

From the couch, Naomi laughed.

"Yes I do!" Annalie argued. "And my eyebrows keep growing in! _And_ I've had to shave my legs three times in the last—"

"Well I can't seem to _get_ my facial hair to grow. Wanna tra—" Walter stopped, noticing Naomi standing in front of the washroom with a distressed look on her face.

"Naomi?" Annalie asked gently. "What's wrong?"

"I can't remember your names," the girl said, as if this was devastating.

"I'm Annalie. And this is Walter. It's okay, you've only known us for one day!"

"But I _never_ forget people's names." Naomi pouted.

Annalie knelt in front of her to offer some words of encouragement, then stopped and frowned. "Hey, Walter."

"Hmm?"

"Does anything about Naomi look different to you?"

Walter looked at the girl, and shrugged. Same little girl as always, looking like a mini-version of Sam, except for those three mini horns…

Wait a minute…

"Naomi," Walter asked, "I hope this isn't a rude question, but how many horns do you normally have on your forehead?"

"Four." Naomi's fingers came up to count her horns, as if proof was needed. "One, two, thr…" she stopped, then rushed to the washroom mirror. "I'm missing a horn!"

Walter hit his com badge. "Baxter to Wildman!"

* * *

**A/N: On Ktarians: very little is revealed about them in canon. The only two we ever see are Naomi Wildman, and Etana Jol (from the "Next Generation" episode "the Game"). Suffice to say, the two look nothing alike. So I came up with the idea of Ktarian foreheads varying like Klingon ones. **

**All of the characters in this story are canon, except for two: Annalie Blackhorse and Kao Li Xiong. Annalie Blackhorse originates from my one-shot "New Age Hippies." She returns in "The Silver Bird," which also introduces Kao Li Xiong. I was itching for a way to develop these two beyond their ethnicities and ranks, in a way that connected them to the real characters.**

**I assume everyone knows who Sam Wildman, Naomi, Vorik, and Joe Carrey are. I'll back up a few of the others though. Lt. Walter Baxter is an early-season character, appearing in "Eye of the Needle" and "Twisted." We don't learn much about him except that he's a workout enthusiast, and he's super-whiny. (And just so we're clear, Baxter is **_**not**_** my type. But something about personality seemed to fit with Annalie Blackhorse, and I decided it would be more interesting to pair her up with a distinctive, imperfect character, rather than another hot guy.) Ensign Tabor is a later-seasons character, from "Nothing Human" and "Repression;" the latter episode also introduced Jor. I won't list all the other names dropped, but they're all from various episodes. If you're really curious, you can look them up on Memory Alpha. **

**Several details about the canon characters, I either invented, or borrowed from other stories. Jor being a half-Betazoid named Marina, and Walter Baxter cheating on his wife, were my ideas. Sam and Joe having an affair is already a popular fan theory. And the idea of "Macrocosm" leaving poor Naomi traumatized is one I read on TV Tropes. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I don't own "Voyager."**

* * *

Samantha was allowed to leave her shift immediately and meet up with her daughter in Sickbay. She wound up getting there before Walter, Annalie and Naomi, with the department she was working in already on Deck 5. Sam was surprised to be greeted by Neelix, who appeared to be suffering from a strange skin disease. His entire face was covered in odd giraffe-like spots.

"Neelix?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"It's a long story," the Doctor said, from where he was scanning another patient. "And we don't know most of it yet."

Sam craned her neck to look curiously over Neelix's shoulder, at the strange humanoid in the bed. He was bald, and had a strange texture to his skin, almost reminding Sam of an elephant's wrinkles. "Is that an alien visitor who's going to tell us what's going on?" she asked Neelix.

Neelix glanced over his shoulder. "No, that would be, uh, Commander Chakotay."

Sam's eyes flared, and she looked back at the man on the bed. Chakotay grimaced, and lifted one hand off his chest in a short wave.

"Something has affected their DNA," the Doctor said, just as the doors to Sickbay hissed back opened.

Blackhorse and Baxter entered with Naomi, who looked on the verge of tears. Over the comm., Walter had said Naomi was missing a horn, but now she actually was missing two, the top and bottom ones. The two remaining were tiny, far smaller than they should have been.

Annalie's black eyebrows (which looked thicker than usual) furrowed, as she told the Doctor, "She seems to be losing her Ktarian memory, too. She couldn't remember our names. Which is normal for a human, but she says she usually—"

The Doctor quickly moved to scan Naomi. "It's just like with Mr. Neelix. Neelix is one-eighth Mylean, and something has caused that part of his DNA to be stimulated. It seems something has caused Miss Wildman's human DNA to do the same."

"You mean she's turning into a full-on human?" Sam could hear the horror in her own voice. The idea of Naomi losing her father's genes, the only physical thing either of them had of Greskrendtregk….

The Doctor closed his tricorder. "At least her condition isn't life-threatening. If I can't find a way to stop Commander Chakotay's aging…."

Sam, Walter and Annalie all looked quickly at Chakotay, almost more with confusion than fright.

"That's…_aging_?" Sam asked.

Annalie's eyes swept along Chakotay's upper body. "If you don't mind my saying so Commander, you're in damn good shape for an old man."

"His entire body hasn't been affected," the Doctor explained. "Only certain parts, like his skin and certain organs. Most of his muscles seem untouched, for some reason."

"I doubt I'll still have these biceps when I actually reach eighty," Chakotay said weakly.

Naomi, at least, had found a much-needed distraction, fascinated by the parts of Chakotay's tattoo that were normally covered by his hair. Chakotay eyed the child with something that might have been amusement.

Annalie however looked regretful. "Your _hair_…"

"I can live without it." Chakotay said firmly.

"But what's the point of being an old Indian guy if you can't have long silver hair?" Annalie argued.

"Or you can rub it in Ensign," Chakotay sighed.

"Speaking of hair," Baxter turned to the Doctor. "Maybe you should scan Ensign Blackhorse and me. We've both noticed some unusual—"

The Doctor flipped his tricorder back opened, grimacing irritably. "_Your_ DNA has been affected as well. It's affecting your hormone levels. I'm afraid I can't tell you much else for now. I'm going to start examining everyone's DNA with Lt. Torres soon. Since none of you are suffering any serious conditions, I'll ask you to return to quarters, and contact me if your symptoms change."

"Naomi's condition seems pretty serious to me!" Sam exclaimed.

"Neelix's spinal column is fusing together," the Doctor said grimly.

Behind him, Neelix was sitting on a biobed, looking at a loss for a way to distract himself.

"Unless becoming a human will pose a serious health risk to your daughter," the Doctor said, "I'm afraid I'll have to put her on my waiting list. I'm sorry Samantha. I'll take a sample of each of your DNA, and keep you informed on what we find."

Sam swallowed and nodded. "I understand. I'll let you know if…if anything else comes up."

* * *

"_Mom!_"

Samantha scrambled out of bed, and rushed to Naomi's room. Her daughter's bed was empty. She realized Naomi was in the washroom, spun around, and froze. For a moment, she didn't recognize the alien child standing in front of her. Then she realized it was Naomi, as a full _Ktarian_. She had the Ktarian layers around her eye sockets, and the full, accentuated horns of her father. Her eyes were a reptilian yellow, and they were filled with tears.

"Oh Naomi!" Sam rushed to embrace her daughter, and hit her com badge. "Wildman to Sickbay! Naomi's a _Ktarian!_"

To her surprise, it was Tom Paris who answered. "_Understood. Get her down here_."

"Tom? Where's the Doctor?"

"_With_ _B'Elanna, looking at everyone's DNA. I think he's already got a sample from Naom_i."

Sam attempted to consol her daughter as she carried her to Sickbay. She considered asking the Transporter room to simply beam them down there, but it was generally considered a bad idea to use the transporters during a medical emergency unless you absolutely had to; there was no telling whether transport would worsen a condition.

"My forehead hurts," Naomi moaned.

"It's okay Naomi. We'll get you to Sickbay, and Tom will make you all better."

As soon as they got to the turbo lift, Sam set Naomi down, and then froze again, staring at Naomi's forehead. It was _changing_. Her horns were growing wider, and flatter. Becoming simple spheres on her forehead, like Greskrendtregk's mother. What the hell was going on?

Sickbay was packed when they arrived. Sam looked frantically for a place to set Naomi down. Finally, an engineer sitting on a biobed scooted aside to make room. Looking up through her tears, Naomi recognized the person next to her. "You're Marina Jor! You work in Engineering with B'Elanna Torres!"

Sam was relieved, at least, that her daughter had that Ktarian memory back. But she wished she had her hazel eyes back too.

The brunette woman next to Naomi glanced down at her. Sam had always known Jor for her empathy and soft demeanor, but now the half-Betazoid's face looked blank, almost cold. She barely seemed to take in Naomi's presence before slowly turning away.

"Marina?" Sam asked nervously.

Jor's empty eyes met Sam's.

"Marina, are you alright?" Sam asked nervously.

"I suppose not." Somehow, Jor's voice had even less emotion right now than a Vulcan's. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

"What's wrong?"

"I stopped sensing other people's emotions, completely. Then I stopped sensing my own. Tom Paris says I've somehow contracted the same condition Lon Suder was born with."

A chill ran down Sam's spine, as she recalled the sociopathic Betazoid who'd been imprisoned in the brig for murder.

"I'm better than Jarot," Marina glanced across the room at Voyager's only full-blooded Betazoid. Jarot was lying on a biobed, her black eyes moving rapidly at something on the ceiling, as Lt. Sue Nicoletti scanned her. "She's got some Betazoid form of schizophrenia."

As Nicoletti comforted Jarot, Sam noticed the engineer's abdomen was swollen, as if she were expecting. Sam knew Sue fairly well, and was pretty sure that the woman was _not_ five-months pregnant.

"Lt. Nicoletti is experiencing a hysterical pregnancy," Jor explained, her voice still lifeless.

So Sue was just another afflicted crewmember, pitching in to help out. Sam felt a twinge of guilt over the fact that she wasn't doing the same. But as a mother, all of her extra energy had to go to her child.

Tom finally reached Naomi, and gave her a scan. "She's a full Ktarian now, but her DNA's in flux. Different parts of it are being stimulated. She'll probably be going through some more transformations over the next few hours, until we can figure out what's going on and put a stop to it. Nothing life-threatening, as far as I can tell."

"Can she leave Sickbay then?" Sam asked, looking around the pandemonium. "For now? Unless something serious comes up?"

"I think so." As Tom moved to treat a coughing woman, he called over his shoulder, "Why don't you go visit Neelix. He's been sent back to his quarters. I'm sure he'd like some company _Billy I have scanned you three times, you are not sick!_"

Sam and Naomi both jumped slightly at Tom's raised voice, then realized he was shouting at Crewman William Telfer, the ship's resident hypochondriac. Telfer's mouth quivered in silent protest, as Tom turned back to his current patient.

"Let's go, Sweetie," Sam gently pressed Naomi's back, urging her towards the exit.

The doors to Sickbay opened just as Sam and Naomi were reaching them. A human couple entered, and Sam stopped. They looked familiar. The young man in the green science uniform looked like someone she saw every day, but she couldn't recall who he was. He had long black hair and a five-o'clock shadow, looked like he might be Native American. His companion was similarly familiar looking, and Sam couldn't place his or her gender. It was either a masculine looking woman, or a very feminine man.

The young man in the science uniform looked at Sam's daughter. "Naomi?"

Naomi didn't recognize him. But Sam did.

"Oh my god, _Annalie?_"

"Not for much longer." The botanist's voice sounded congested, stuck somewhere between male and female. "Karma's a bitch. Once, years ago, I asked Commander Chakotay what it was like to be a woman. When he was borrowing people's bodies that one time, in Year One. I wanted to know what it was like to be in someone else's body. Should be careful what I ask for."

Walter Baxter nodded sickeningly, glancing down at his chest, which had grown significantly under his gold uniform. Sam recalled the old stereotype of boys being fascinated by women's breasts, and wondering what it was like to have them, and realized that this stereotype must have held some truth for Walter Baxter.

For the first time all day, Sam was immensely grateful that all Naomi was doing was switching between species and races. She couldn't imagine what she'd do if she had to teach Naomi how to use the lavatory like a boy.

Tom Paris scanned Walter and Annalie. "Don't feel bad. A bunch of couples are having their hormones messed with in some way or another. B'Elanna and me included."

"Oooh," Annalie realized, "So _that's_ why you two have been so out of control lately."

"Always nice to have aliens or space anomalies to blame it on," Tom got out a hypospray. "I'll try to stabilize your hormones. I can't promise it will work."

"What if it doesn't?" Walter practically squeaked.

The security guard's voice was always a tad nasally, "whiny" as some people described it. Sam would never tell Walter this, but one almost didn't notice the difference between his normal voice and this feminine version.

"Lieutenant?" Walter pressed, eyeing Tom nervously.

Annalie looked at her lover dryly. "I know your'e sick of Indian jokes, but there's a totem pole gag hanging in the air here..."

Sam decided that her daughter had heard enough. "Come on Naomi."

* * *

There seemed to be no correlation between the victims' varying conditions. Lt. Torres was on automatic respiratory, with her lungs shut off. Jarot and Jor had Betazoid psychological disorders. Sue Nicoletti was experiencing a hysterical pregnancy. Vorik was alternating between being deaf and having his hearing tuned so high that the slightest sound was unbearable for him. Joe Carrey had amnesia. The Delaney twins were going through a string of medical conditions, always the same one at the same time.

Engineering was uncharacteristically quiet, as the remaining unaffected crewmembers worked under the command of Ensign Tabor. Life in the Maqius and the Occupation had trained the Bajoran to remain calm and focused even in the most stressful situations. One would never know his half-Betazoid lover was in Sickbay, with a condition that had caused her to apparently lose all feelings for him, and everyone else.

Kao Li Xiong, on the other hand, was less prepared for all this. True, she'd been on Voyager for three years now, and should be used to the occasional bouts of chaos. But she was used to these things happening only to one or two shipmates at a time. Or, on the rare occasion it did strike the whole ship, the _same condition_ for everyone. Voyager was starting to sound like a circus, from all the stories spreading from Sickbay about crewmember's varying conditions. The last Kao Li had heard from of her "Big Sister," Annalie was telling her over the com that she too was planning to stop by Sickbay.

"Ensign," Tabor said, startling Kao Li from her thoughts. "Your shift is over, you can leave. You look like you could use a break anyway."

Kao Li breathed deeply and nodded. "Thanks Tabor."

She made a beeline for Annalie's quarters, hoping to find out that her friend was alright. Kao Li's heart was pounding, imagining what she might find, as she keyed the doorbell. Annalie's voice came in through the door's vocal option.

"_Walter, that you?_"

The voice was disturbingly masculine. Not macho or deep, still soft, but lower, a bit like Chaktoay's or Tuvok's. And the freakiest thing was that somehow, it was still recognizable as Annalie.

"Um, it's me," Kao Li said.

"Kao Li," Annalie said, with that dry sarcasm she was known for. "Brace yourself. Your Big Sister might be a Big Brother."

The door opened, and Annalie greeted her friend with a hand on her hip. She looked almost entirely male. Still small and skinny, still with long hair, but definitely male. Her chest was flat, her hips were narrow, and one could tell she'd recently shaved her face.

Kao Li could only gape at her friend.

"Here's the strange part," Annalie said, as if they were just exchanging gossip over lunch. "I'm not really _minding_ it anymore. I'm just kind of going with the flow. I guess part of it's just scientific curiosity. But honesty, I'm kind of curious to see what I'll look like as a full-on male. I think I make a pretty good-looking fellow. What do you think?"

"I…" Kao Li stammered, her small eyes as wide as saucers. "…like Vulcans, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Well anyway, this just reminds me of what Jarot told us, a few years ago. That we should just make the most of every situation that comes up. I think that's what I'll do. This is the only time in my life—I hope to God—that I'll know what it's like to be a man. So I'm just gonna roll with it. What about you, any mutations lately?"

Kao Li shook her head, her mouth still hanging opened.

"Huh. You're lucky. Maybe. In a weird way I kind of feel sorry for you. You'll never know what it's like to try out a new body. Chakotay didn't tell me it would be so…_interesting_."

"That's because Chakotay's _normal!_" Kao Li exclaimed. "You've always had a weird idea of fun, Annalie. I didn't hear anything about Neelix or anybody else thinking their new body was 'interesting.' You're probably the only one on this ship insane enough to enjoy their mutation! Either that or your _mind's_ being messed with too."

"Oh no, it's not just me. When Walter and I left Sickbay, he was like a kid on Christmas morning. I had to remind him that a Starfleet officer's not supposed to feel herself up in the middle of the hallway. When I dropped him off at his quarters, he said he was gonna try out some outfits, and when I suggested trying a biosuit like Seven of Nine has, he liked the idea. And Vorik's been using his new hearing to eavesdrop on everyone—when he's not deaf—so we got a lot of new gossip."

"I was hoping you'd be okay," Kao Li mumbled, "But not _this_ okay."

"Well you can't blame me for being a little excited, because honestly," Annalie's voice lowered. "I'm no fortune teller. But the way things are looking, I think I'm gonna have Galaxy-Class masculinity before the day's done."

Kao Li bolted and tore down the hall, not looking back.

* * *

**A/N: Told you it would be weird.**

**If you want a story that's not as messed up as this one, here are some I recommend:**

"**Field Trip," by Withah: A C/7 story explaining how Chakotay and Seven began dating, while also featuring Naomi and Icheb heavily. Gives Naomi some much-needed character development, after Neelix's departure.**

"**Politics and Chocolate Ice-Cream," by Marauder-In-Disguise: Sam Wildman and the other adults have a difficult time explaining the Maquis to Naomi.**

"**Three Anniversaries," by Spiletta42, which chronicles an ongoing friendship and affair between Sam Wildman and Joe Carrey, over the course of the journey. You'll find out what the two were going through in episodes like "Scientific Method" and "The Killing Game."**

"**A Little Piece of Paradise," by Aaunty Pasta, which fills in**_**two**_**plot-holes: the fate of the Borg baby from "Collective," and of Marla Gilmore from "Equinox." In my opinion, this story humanizes Gilmore more than the TV show and published novels ever did.**

"**Legacy," "Angel of Mercy," and "Skate Away," by Laura Schiller. They feature Tal Celes from "Good Shepherd," Noah Lessing from "Equinox," and Lindsay Ballard from "Ashes to Ashes," respectively.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I don't own "Voyager."**

* * *

Being with Neelix lifted Naomi's spirits immensely. She was no longer crying, or even upset. Neelix had convinced her to treat the situation like a game. Providing paper and colored pencils, he encouraged her to draw a self portrait every time her face changed. Naomi now laughed as she looked between her artwork and Neelix's mirror, drawing her most recent Ktarian forehead (which vaguely resembled B'Elanna's, but with segments on the ridges). Neelix still looked fully Mylean, covered in those strange brown spots. Sam slowly sipped her tea from where she sat on Neelix's sofa.

All affected by the strange epidemic were confined to quarters, unless their conditions were serious enough to warrant Sickbay. The victims had inadvertently split up into groups, visiting with each other to provide moral support. Joe Carrey, Marina Jor and Sue Nicoletti were sharing Neelix's living room with him, Sam and Naomi.

"I swear," Sue Nicoletti glanced down at her enlarged stomach. "I've been feeling _kicks_. Tom says it's psychological."

For no other reason than to make conversation, Sam offered, "At least you're not pregnant with a half-Ktarian child. Just imagine those horns scraping against you."

"She isn't pregnant with _anything_," Jor said blankly. "It's a hysterical pregnancy, an illusion."

"Yes Marina, I know," Sue sighed. "I wonder if this is a coincidence. I _have_ a baby back home, in California. He was three when I left. I was only going to do this one mission, to complete my requirement for a teaching position. Then I'd be home on Earth, with him and my husband."

Sam grew a tad sick inside, at the mention of a husband. Every adult in the room knew about her budding affair with Joe Carrey. Well, everyone except Joe himself, whose memory was almost completely gone. He was sitting in a chair across from them, scrolling through his own logs on a PADD.

"_I'm_ married, apparently," he said off-handedly. "With two sons." He glanced up at his friends. "Do I talk about them often?"

"Very often," Sam said sadly. "It'll all come back to you Joe, the Doctor will find a way to cure us."

The door suddenly chimed. When Neelix answered it, he seemed a bit startled to see Seven of Nine standing before him, in her brown biosuit, along with Lt. Ayala and a handful of security officers.

"The crew has been the victim of alien experimentation," Seven said, perhaps not realizing that her words were sending chills down the spine of everyone in the room. "We've captured one of the aliens. The captain is in the brig speaking with her. In the meantime she's ordered me to expose any aliens that are still harming the crew."

Seven suddenly turned sharply, as if someone had just reacted hostilely to her words, and raised her phaser. To Sam's horror, the phaser was pointed in Naomi's direction. But the beam hit just a few feet above the child; and then, standing behind her, was a hideous alien woman with unusually shaped ears. She was holding some kind of scanning device over Naomi.

"Touch the child again," Seven said threateningly, "Take one step near a room containing her, and I will kill you." Still holding her phaser, Seven stepped into the room, grabbed the alien by the arm, and dragged her to the door. For the benefit of everyone in Neelix's quarters as much as the security guards, Seven said, "I do not detect any other aliens in this room. You should be safe now."

Sam watched Seven turn the alien over to Lt. Ayala and his guards, with a newfound respect for the former drone.

"Sam," Ayala said. "I understand you must have your hands full, so feel free to say no to this. But the captain's requested, if you're comfortable, helping out on the Bridge. We could use a Xenobiologist up there, to help keep tabs on those aliens."

Sam turned to her daughter. "Naomi, will you be okay here, with Neelix?"

Naomi nodded, her yellow Ktarian eyes staring widely at the alien now in custody.

"Alright Miguel," Sam said to Ayala, "I'll get up there. And Crewman….of Nine," she wasn't certain how to address the former drone. "Thank you."

Seven dipped her head in a respectful nod.

* * *

Walter Baxter examined his new body in the mirror, now aware that he could no longer refer to himself as "himself." His facial hair was long gone, and his hips had widened to a feminine shape. His horror was coupled with an almost addictive fascination with his new…_everything_. Walter had never been a "handsome" man, but being a "workout enthusiast" meant he had a great body; and now, he had a great _female_ body.

He'd replicated copies of a few biosuits Kes and Seven had worn. The silver one with the collar, that one really seemed to match Walter's stern personality. But he (she?) was really finding himself (herself) drawn to the cherry red one Kes had sometimes worn. Brushing his short hair to the front of his face, he could give himself a hairdo similar to Kes's, or a Vulcan's. (He'd grown his hair out significantly since his first few years on Voyager, and found ways to hide his receding hairline, like Tom Paris had.) His "worried looking" features and pale green eyes looked very fitting on a woman's face, he thought.

Was his mind being affected by his changing hormones? In the 24th century, scientists were still debating whether there was any significant difference in male and female brains. He was still thinking of himself as Walter Baxter, a man. So his mind clearly hadn't been _that_ affected. Maybe he was just curious about all he could do with this new body.

Of all the bizarre things he'd witnessed in the Delta Quadrant, this absolutely took the cake, 100%. Had anything even come close to this? Searching his memory, Walter realized that he'd been spared most of the weirdness that many of his shipmates had endured. He went through all the times he had personally, up close, experienced the strangeness of deep space. He recalled leading his security team on a wild goose-chase through the twisted halls of Voyager, during the time that spacial anomaly had turned the ship into a maze. Then the same year, that strange anomaly that had caused the crew to hallucinate (Walter's vision involved Olga berating him, for considering adultery). For Year Three, he remembered a short fire-fight between his security team and the "macrocosm," before the giant germ flew into his face and rendered him unconscious. Anything beyond that? He'd been captured by aliens or stranded on desolate planets with the rest of his shipmates, when it happened to the whole crew. But had Walter Baxter experienced anything, by himself, that most of the rest of the crew couldn't say they had? Maybe that was why he was so fascinated by his new female physique; because this experience, as freaky as it was, was all _his_, and no one else's. It almost made him feel special.

By midnight, Walter was lying awake in bed, the transformation complete. Looking down at his body, he couldn't decide if the results were perfectly terrible, or terribly perfect.

"_Blackhorse to Baxter_."

Walter wasn't certain what disturbed him more; the fact that Annalie was still recognizable while also sounding undeniably male, or the fact that he found this new voice sexy.

"B-Baxter here." His own nasally voice hardly sounded any different.

"_Any new changes, Wally?_"

Baxter swallowed. "You could say that."

Silence.

"Annalie?"

"_Walter…I don't know how I got it, or how long I'm gonna have it. All I know is, I wanna use it_."

"W-well I, I…"

"_Come on. How many times are you gonna be able to do this again?_"

The freakiest thing was that Walter wanted to do it. He was curious. And he was stressed, and sex always was a good stress-reliever, at least for him. What was making him hesitate?

"W-well don't you think we should wait a bit," Walter suggested, "to give it some thought? Sort out how we feel about all this?"

"_We're being experimented on by a hostile race of transvestite fish-people. When Captain Janeway confronted one of them they said they could kill us all. If we're gonna die, don't you want to go out with a bang? Don't you want to have a last bit of fun?_"

Annalie was always trying to talk Walter into some crazy "fun." Pranking someone's holo-program, doing the nasty in a Jeffries tube, trying Neelix's most questionable recipes. But this was a new level for her.

"Annalie, do you still…like me? For who I really am?" Walter shifted on his (her) bed. "I mean, will you still be with me after this? Or will you be running off to try out your new body with all the other women on the ship?"

"_Walter how can you say that? Of course I'll still respect you in the morning! Come on, let's do this before the Captain finds a way to save us all and we miss our chance! I've got a slot on Holodeck-2 in an hour. What do you say about a trip to Risa?"_

Walter swallowed. He _was_ rather curious…

* * *

It had been a while since Sam Wildman had worked on the Bridge. Captain Janeway had eased up on Sam's duties since Naomi's birth. It was kind of nice to be back here, working with the old bridge crowd again. On the way in, she greeted an old friend, Crewman Heidi Dietrich. The young blonde German had been an acquaintance of Sam's on DS9, and the two had grown closer on Voyager.

"I heard about Naomi," Heidi said as Sam crossed to her assigned station, behind the command chairs. "I hope she's alright."

"She is." Sam activated her consol. "She was frightened at first. But Neelix managed to get her to see the fun in it. He's got her in his quarters now, illustrating all the different faces she's taking on."

Heidi made a face. "Makes me sick, these animals doing that to a child. They're cowards."

"Focus on your work Heidi," Sam said. "We can't afford to get angry."

"At least the Vidiians had an excuse," Heidi continued bitterly. "They really _did_ have to save their people from a disease. These cowards, they're just doing it for some 'research.' Know why I think they're doing all this? I think their species, in some way or another, is weak and pathetic. Maybe they're mostly wiped out, or maybe they're just physically inferior in some way, and they just want to fee—" Heidi gasped, her entire body confusing, and collapsed to the floor.

"Heidi!" Sam cried.

Lt. William Chapman, usually so shy and timid, immediately took control of the situation. He sternly waved Sam down, silently ordering her to remain and her post, and rushed to kneel beside Heidi. "Bridge to Doctor, medical emergency!" he bellowed.

The Doctor, Janeway, Seven and Tuvok emerged from the Ready Room and rushed to Heidi's side. Sam watched in a daze as Heidi convulsed, grotesque red veins branching around her face.

Scanning her, the Doctor said quickly, "She's in hypertensive shock. Twenty milligrams lectrazine…"

Sam watched silently, along with the entire Bridge, as the captain and Doctor worked frantically to save her friend.

The Doctor's eyes grew in horror scanned his patient. "Her blood pressure is three-sixty over one-twenty-five!"

"How is that possible," Janeway demanded, bringing up a hypospray to Heidi's neck.

"Sever adrenal stress…"

Sam felt herself go numb. Her friend in front of her, her daughter down in Neelix's quarters... She wanted to hit her com badge and ask Neelix if Naomi was alright, but her hands wouldn't budge from her consol.

Heidi's eyes slowly dropped shut, and her head slackened to the floor.

"Her arterial pathways are rupturing," the Doctor's voice sank. "She's in cardiac arrest, we're losing her."

Sam felt her chest ice over. She'd lost enough friends on the journey for the reality of those words hit home immediately.

Janeway grabbed Heidi's chin and began CPR. As far as Sam knew, the captain was barely acquainted with Heidi Dietrich. But Janeway regarded every life on her ship, even those she barely saw, the way Sam regarded her daughter.

"Captain I'm afraid that won't help," the Doctor said. "There's too much internal bleeding."

Janeway wouldn't have it. Pumping on Heidi's heart, she insisted, "Then try something else. We'll transport her to Sickbay."

The Doctor stared at the captain. "Her entire circulatory system has collapsed, there' s no way to repair that kind of damage!"

Then came the sound Sam had been dreading: the straight, soft, hum of a flat-line.

"Brain death has occurred," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry, there was nothing more we could have done"

Janeway continued CPR for a few more seconds, before finally giving up. Staring at Heidi's body, Janeway whispered, "_This ends right now_." The captain pulled herself up on the railing and marched to the helm. "You're relieved!" she barked at Ensign Khalid, who quickly surrendered her chair to the captain.

Sam continued to stare at her friend's body, until her own finally woke from its daze. She removed her hands from her consol, letting them drop to her sides.

"Captain," Tuvok said, "What are you doing?"

"I'm running a little experiment of my own." Janeway's cracking voice was low and harsh.

Chapman exchanged a glance with Sam. They both knew that when Captain Janeway took the helm of her own ship, she meant business.

Voyager soared forward, towards the binary pulsars they'd been examining from a safe distance for the last few days. Sam's stomach tightened. What the hell was the captain doing?

"Captain," Seven of Nine's blue eyes were fixed on some invisible figure, "One of the aliens has just entered the Bridge."

"Understood." Janeway replied with a frightening calm.

Tuvok warned, "We're less than a million kilometers from the pulsars. We must change course immediately, to avoid being caught in their gravity."

"_No_." Janeway ordered. "_Keep going._"

"This is a far more reckless course of action than I've come to expect from you, Captain." Tuvok commented.

"It certainly is."

With the captain sitting at the helm, Sam obviously couldn't see her face, but it almost sounded like Janeway was smiling.

Oh god, Sam realized, what if the Captain herself was under the alien's influence?

Without asking permission, Sam left her post and rushed to the concealed little engineering station in the back corner, where she sometimes operated on her Bridge shifts. From here, she could better observe how the ship was holding up, and where crewmembers—like her daughter—were.

"Hull stress is at thirty teradynes and rising," Tuvok reported.

Harry added something that Sam barely heard. From her station, she observed the aliens around the ship. There were hundreds of them, but they were fleeing, retreating to their ships. Janeway was crazy like a _fox_. She was getting rid of them.

Suddenly, one of the aliens materialized in next to the helm. "What do you hope to accomplish by this?" she asked the captain.

Sam felt her blood pressure skyrocket, and forced herself to look away. Only her Starfleet training kept her from lunging at the alien, whose experiments had murdered her friend, and tormented her daughter.

"Flying into a binary pulsar?" Janeway taunted. "Seems like I'm trying to crush this ship like a tin can."

Sam remembered that the crew's quarters were all located _right on the edge of the ship_. She instantly checked for Naomi's com signal on the screen. She was still in Neelix's quarters, along with Jor, Nicoletti and Carrey. All of them were barricaded in Neelix's lavatory, as far away from his window as possible.

"It's more likely that you're trying to intimidate us," the alien said.

From the forced calm the alien spoke with, Sam suspected that Janeway was succeeding.

"You're welcome to stick around and find out." Janeway replied.

"Hull stress is at forty-five teradynes," Tuvok said.

How far would the captain take this bluff, Sam wondered? She imagined the hull along Neelix's quarters being torn off, Naomi being sucked into space. Now it wasn't her Starfleet training, but her numbing terror, that kept Sam from demanding from Janeway what the hell she was doing.

The alien trotted over to the helm and began typing, attempting to take control from the captain.

"Our course is locked in." Janeway announced. "Only my authorization can release it."

"You're not behaving very rationally." The alien was clearly struggling to conceal he fear.

Janeway whispered, "That's what you were trying to accomplish isn't it?" Her voice rose. "Hmm? Pumping up my dopamine levels to push me to the edge, keeping me awake for _four days straight_ with the constant pain of your devices drilling into my skull? Well this is the culmination of your work, and guess what, you're gonna be right here to collect the final data!"

The captain had snapped, Sam feared. This wasn't a bluff, this was suicide. And she was going to take the entire crew, including Sam's daughter, down with her.

"Shields have failed," Harry Kim warned. "Structural integrity is down to twenty percent."

Sam was ready to take control of the transporters and beam her daughter and friends to a safer spot on the ship, but to her relief, they were already ahead of her. Neelix, Naomi, Jor, Nicoletti and Carrey had left Neelix's quarters, and were hurrying—along with virtually everyone else in the crew who'd been previously located at dangerous positions—towards the center of the ship. The only person who seemed to be remaining in their quarters was Crewman Tarot, who, from what Sam knew of the eccentric Bolian, would probably be interested in watching the entire scene from his window. Well, he wouldn't get to; Sam got a lock and beamed him to the center of the ship, with the rest of the crew.

Next to Captain Janeway, the alien demanded, "Enter the authorization code and change course immediately!"

The captain almost sounded amused. "I don't think you realize that you are _not_ in control here anymore!"

"I can kill you, and your crew, in an instant!"

Sam cringed in her seat.

"Go ahead." Janeway said. "Without us you won't be able to prevent this ship from being torn apart by the pulsars. Even with my crew working together I'd say the odds of us getting through this are what," she raised her voice, addressing Tuvok, "one in ten?"

"One in twenty," the Vulcan replied.

Sam hoped to God they were both exaggerating.

"I'm willing to take that chance," Janeway said without looking at the alien. "Are you?"

The alien stepped away and activated a device on her belt, beaming away from the Bridge. Away from Voyager, according to the readings on Sam's station.

Tuvok's voice rose. "Outer hull temperature has reached nine-thousand degrees."

"The hull's beginning to buckle," Harry yelled.

From her station behind the command chairs, Seven reported, "Two alien vessels are attempting to disengage from Voyager." After a moment, she added, "One has left Voyager. The other has been destroyed."

Sam felt a small smile spread over her lips. At least _some_ of those monsters had received the death they deserved.

Janeway barely seemed to hear Seven's report. "I can't break us free of the gravitational forces."

"Then let's divert all power to the shields!" Harry shouted.

"No. If we go in, we go in full throttle."

"_Captain?_"

"Assuming we survive, we're gonna need all the momentum we can get to reach escape velocity on the other side. Everyone hang on!" As they all braced for impact, Janeway called, "I hope you were exaggerating about those odds Tuvok."

"I was not."

Janeway didn't respond.

"Captain," Sam finally called across the Bridge. "If the hulls do breach, will people in the center of the ship survive?"

Harry answered for the captain. "They'll have a better chance than anyone else."

The ship began to shake, while Seven, Harry and Tuvok continued to report the damage. Sam was only half listening, her attention focused on her daughter's com signal down in the cargo bay. She didn't think her fear could possibly increase any more, until she heard the captain bellow, "I've lost helm control!"

Sam's blood was pounding so hard, she didn't even realize they were through and the shaking had stopped, until Harry said breathlessly, "I don't believe it. We're alive."

Sam weakly lifted her head, and realized she'd been bent almost completely over in her chair. She brushed her disheveled blonde hair out of her face, panting.

Still facing the viewscreen, Janeway said, "I never realized you thought of me as 'reckless,' Tuvok."

"A poor choice of words," the Vulcan said. "It was clearly an understatement."

_No shit! _Sam thought.

* * *

**Special thanks to Linda Karin Michaela, who posted the climax scene from "Scientific Method" on You Tube. I relied heavily on this video clip for the last scene of this chapter. In part of this scene, a blonde woman in a green uniform stands at Seven of Nine's usual bridge station, and in my head-canon, this woman is Sam Wildman. Oddly, she vanishes halfway through the scene, so I had to account for that in this story.**

**And another special thanks to "Chrissie's Transcript's Site," which I always rely on when I have to retell a bit of dialogue from the show that I can't understand just from watching. (This time, I needed help with what the Doctor is saying during the death of "Heidi Dietrich.") **

**The girl who dies isn't named in the episode, so I made up her identity. The man who kneels over her, and presumably calls the Doctor to the Bridge, isn't fully shown, so I made him Lt. Chapman, Seven's date from "Someone to Watch Over Me." **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: "Voyager" not mine and such.**

* * *

The Doctor had everyone cured in a day. The relief that swept the ship was coupled with a mass survivor's guilt, concerning the death of Crewman Dietrich. In a way, deaths like Heidi's were the worst; someone who'd survived battles with the Borg, Species 8472, and the most deadly space anomalies, only to be senselessly killed by local aliens. Samantha felt especially guilty, because a part of her was _relieved_ that it was her friend who'd died, and not her daughter. Naomi (too young to understand Dietrich's death) took the entire situation surprisingly well. Or maybe not so surprisingly, considering she was probably too young to understand the gravity of the situation.

Neelix and Naomi were talking about the incident in the Wildman quarters, while Sam put on her uniform jacket. It was good to see Naomi and Neelix both looking like themselves again. Sam would never take for granted Greskrendtregk's horns on her daughter's forehead again. Janeway had given Sam the entire week off, but she had willingly taken a shift for Tom Paris, so he could have a much-needed date with B'Elanna. Truth, Sam wanted some work, to take her mind off things.

"Can we go for another pulsar ride?" Naomi asked.

Neelix had convinced the child that the speeding ride through the binary pulsars was something like roller coaster ride, and Naomi had enjoyed it. After Neelix told her no, there would be no more "pulsar rides," Naomi turned to her mother, preparing for her shift.

"Mom? Are you gonna drive the ship, for Lt. Paris today?"

Sam smiled. "No, Sweetie. I'm taking Tom's _Sickbay_ shift." Though Tom was the official ship's nurse, the Doctor obviously had several other assistants, most of them science officers. Sam, being a Xenobiologist, already knew a bit about people's bodies, and was an obvious candidate for helping out in Sickbay.

"Your shift doesn't start for half-hour Sam," Neelix pointed out.

"The Captain wanted to see me in her ready room." Sam replied. "You two have fun. I won't be gone long, it's only half a shift. I'll be back at 2100. Naomi, I want you in bed when I get back."

Naomi didn't respond, but Neelix gave Sam an assuring nod.

* * *

As Sam made her way to the captain's Ready Room, the sadness of Heidi's death was eased somewhat by the sight of her living shipmates, cured of their mutations and chattering as if it were any other day. Someone who wasn't living aboard a Federation ship might find it a bit tactless, how quickly the crew would get over a death. But quick recoveries were crucial, especially out here, and a return to normalcy often helped.

In the hall, Sam passed Tom Paris arguing with Crewman William Telfer, who was tagging after him the way Naomi often tagged after Neelix.

"How do you know the aliens didn't leave some dormant condition in me, that will activate in a month?" Telfer pressed frantically. "I heard once about aliens laying eggs in a Starfleet officer's-"

"Billy," Tom exclaimed without stopping or turning around, "Of all the people on this ship, do you think those aliens would want to experiment on a paranoid hypochondriac who'd be onto them in a nanosecond?"

"But that would make me a perfect target! Because no one ever believes me..."

Sam allowed herself a small smile, as she stepped into the turbo lift, the doors hissing shut on Tom and Billy's conversation.

The captain seemed far more herself when Sam met with her. But still not _completely_ herself. The captain was quiet and timid when she greeted Sam, almost apologetic. Probably ashamed of how "reckless" she'd been before.

"Ensign Wildman," the captain said. "To say that I owe you an apology would be an understatement. I took a gamble with the lives of this crew, thinking they'd all signed on to serve under me knowing the risks. But it was my responsibility as captain to remember that one person on board _hasn't_ made that commitment."

"You weren't yourself," Sam replied. "You were under the aliens' influence. In any case, you got us all out safe."

"But I had no right to risk your child's life to do it." Janeway arched her head at the ceiling. "Were I in my right mind, I would have ordered you and Naomi to a shuttle craft before taking that gamble."

"That may be a good solution, in the future." Sam mused. "Of course we can't predict every dangerous situation. But if we ever get the chance to plan for one again…"

Janeway nodded. "I'll have it added to our list of procedures. Given some of our situations, evacuating someone might not always be possible, but when it is, and if the situation warrants it, all children and their families will be evacuated to a shuttlecraft, until such time that its' safe to rendezvous with Voyager."

Realizing the captain had just given Sam a break that Starfleet technically didn't allow parents, simply on behalf of being parents, she returned Janeway's nod. "Thank you, Captain."

* * *

Annalie Blackhorse had never been "beautiful," but she'd be damned if she ever took her body for granted again. Now perfectly female and perfectly groomed, she flaunted her average, imperfect figure with the least-modest swimsuit she could find in the database, wanting as many people as possible to have her real body fresh in their memories. The entire experience was like a dream. Not an entirely bad one, but an incredibly _strange_ one. She continued to think about what she and Walter had gone through, largely because she needed something distract herself from Crewman Dietrich's death.

Annalie and Walter lay stretched out on beach towels, staring at the holographic sky. The beach program had been immensely popular the previous year, but was fading in popularity. And that was just as well; now crewmembers could enjoy it more. Sam, Naomi, Neelix, and a handful of other shipmates milled around the beach, or swam in the ocean. Jor and Tabor were splashing in the waves, Jor's face radiant with emotion once again.

"Let's face it," Walter finally said. "That isn't the weirdest thing that's happened to Starfleet officers in deep space. Not by a long shot. Did you know that someone on the Enterprise-D once turned into a giant spider?"

"Don't you feel guilty?" Annalie whispered.

Walter rolled over to face her. "It was your idea!"

"I'm talking about that woman, Dietrich. While we were off having that, that wild encounter, that we can look back and laugh on, she…"

Walter settled back onto his towel. "I feel guilty every time we lose someone. Security, I'm supposed to protect." He looked around the sky. "What can you do? Life goes on."

Neelix and Sam Wildman were helping Naomi build a sandcastle. (Neelix, thankfully, was fully clothed; Sam and her daughter wore modest swimsuits.) The sculpture looked like a famous building on Ktaris Prime, that Annalie couldn't recall the name of. Lots of tall thin towers, with domed roofs. She had to admire the child's artistic skill; she was actually using a twig to dig in the distinctive markings and double-crossed windows the building was known for.

"I can't thank you enough Neelix," Sam shifted in the sand. "I don't know how I'd be able to give Naomi a normal life without you."

"And boy am I glad to _be_ back to normal!" the Talaxian said. "I hope my great-grandfather's ghost doesn't take offense to this, but I'm glad I'm not wearing his genes anymore."

Annalie decided to heed Walter's advice about "moving on," and searched for something to add to the conversation.

"I am _so_ glad to be a woman again," she finally sighed, rolling onto her stomach. "I never realized how inconvenient a male body is. I used to think a female body was a pain, but at least we can mark our difficulties on a calendar."

"I never," Walter rolled over, copying her move, "_ever_ to be reminded of this again."

"I didn't hear you complaining that night." Annalie muttered a bit too loudly.

"Annalie," Kao Li said, passing by with a drink, "Have you ever heard the phrase 'too much information?'"

"So many times I've just decided to ignore it."

Sue Nicoletti strode by in a bikini, showing off her flat, hysterical-pregnancy-free torso. "At least no one produced any _off-spring_ while in their mutant form, this time."

Everyone laughed, except Neelix.

"I ah, wouldn't mention that around any of the senior staff, especially the Captain and Mr. Paris. They don't like be reminded about it."

"I wonder," Annalie folded her arms on her towel, and looked at her lover. "What would happen if I'd gotten _you_ pregnant, Walter?"

Walter rose from his towel and headed for the bamboo bar stand. "I need a _drink_."

* * *

**A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed that weirdness. But if you didn't, that's okay; it just proves you're a more normal person than I am. **

**Last time, I recommended some other people's great "lower decks" stories. Now, I'll be a schmuck and recommend my own: **

"**Nightshifters:" Mariah Henley, a former Maquis, must work with Noah Lessing, a former Equinox crewman. It doesn't go well.**

"**Duplicate:" Naomi Wildman learns about what happened in "Deadlock." This, too, does not go well.**

"**My Crew:" Chakotay informs his former Maquis crew what happened to their comrades back home. Guess how it goes? **

"**My Sister's Caretaker:" A back-story for the Delaney twins, explaining how one family wound up with two daughters on the same ship. Surprisingly, for Megan and Jenny, things **_**do**_** go well. **


End file.
